JockZon wrote:Morning musume has a song called jisho kashimashi monogatari and I was bold enough to think that I could translate it ^^ but the first two phrases are really weird and got a weird construction. Is there anyone that could explain this?
"Jibun ja sono ki wa nai rashii
sore de mo kanari yuutousei"
For instance: Why isn't ja and nai together, how do you form this "To think" with sono ki... and how do you use jibun (in this case, herself)
I found a translation that says "She doesn't think i herself but she is quite an honor student"
The translation you found is basically right.
自分じゃその気はないらしい
それでもかなり優等生
"Jibun" means myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc. depending on context.
"Ja" is a shortened form of "de wa", meaning "by". It doesn't have to be before "nai".
自分では = 自分じゃ = by oneself
気がある = to care about something
気がない = to not care about something
It appears as if she doesn't care herself,
But despite this, she is an excellent student.
(BTW, please don't post romaji for translation requests. It's yucky. Also, you should post the full lyrics of the song, and just ask about the particular section you want translated. Japanese is very context-dependent.)
